Instructor Sergey Muretov works with Sonja Veg, foreground, while Gloria Vizzacchero dances with Ian Johns during a wheelchair dance class for people with multiple sclerosis held Thursday at Wellspring Worship Centre.
When Sonja Veg was a child and young woman, she loved taking ballet. Later, she looked forward to gliding around the dance floor with her husband.
But when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 14 years ago, the disease began to rob her of her ability to dance.
Rather than being able to move effortlessly around the floor, Veg was forced to merely stand still and sway while she held on to her husband for support.
That was until about four weeks ago, when she joined a wheelchair dance course in North York run by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada's Toronto chapter and Chance Dance Centre.
The eight-week program is held Thursday mornings at the Wellspring Worship Centre at 89 Centre Ave. near Cummer and Willowdale avenues.
Thanks to a $2,000 grant from a charitable organization called the Leslois Shaw Foundation, the classes are free to the participants, although many have had trouble attending due to transportation problems with TTC Wheel-Trans.
Veg is full of joy as instructor Sergey Muretov waltzes her around the floor.
Although the classes are held in a dimly lit, utilitarian room, Veg could be the belle of high society's most extravagant ball.
"I tell you, Thursday is my best day now. You forget about your limitations," said Veg, who is not confined to a wheelchair, but must use a cane and scooter.
"It gives me such assurance. It gives me such pleasure. It brings me a major step forward to fun. When you have MS, fun disappears gradually."
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system. It can cause loss of balance, impaired speech, extreme fatigue, double vision and paralysis.
Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. There is no known cure.
While Veg said wheelchair dancing is hard work as she strengthens the muscles of her core and arms, it gives her a profound sense of freedom.
"It is revolutionary for us. My body felt like it was dying (before taking the classes). It is a horrible disease," she said, adding she hopes to use her new-found dancing skills and strength to dance with her husband at two weddings next month.
"Your therapist always says, 'Don't leave your walker. Don't go without your cane' and suddenly (when you are dancing) you are free. Sergey is amazing. I've never met anybody like him. He's not dwelling on your disability. He is focusing on the person and works with their abilities."
Muretov has many national and international dance credentials under his belt, including representing Ukraine on the first European wheelchair dance championship in Sweden.
While he enjoys the success of all of his student, he is particularly touched when he sees the joy students with disabilities get from realizing they can dance.
"I feel we communicate. I see in (their) eyes. It is in my eyes, too. There is a tremendous connection," he said, adding dancing helps get oxygen to people's blood, which benefits patients with MS.
"Movement is our life. When we stop moving, we're dead."
In almost all ways, wheelchair dancing is the same as traditional dancing, Muretov said.
"It is the same music, the same couple (there are two people dancing), someone leads and someone follows like in traditional dancing. It is nothing more. It is two people," he said.
Scarborough resident Ian Johns is taking the course even though he doesn't have MS. He has been in a wheelchair his whole life.
Johns, who takes part in wheelchair curling, downhill skiing, rugby and basketball, decided to participate because it was something new.
"I haven't seen wheelchair ballroom dancing before. I thought I would try and I liked it," he said.
"It is very tiring. You use muscles you don't use very much. I would say (to others thinking of trying wheelchair dancing), 'Give it a try if you like something different.'"
Last Thursday, Gloria Vizzacchero, who lives near Yonge Street and Hwy. 401, volunteered to help with the class for the first time.
"I like to always help people," she said, adding she doesn't do much dancing.
"You have to make big steps and bigger movements and give (the wheelchairs) more space. But it is fun."
The same connection that exists between any two people doing ballroom dancing, whether they are able-bodied or not, remains constant, Vizzacchero said.
"I didn't feel too much it was somebody in a wheelchair," she said.
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